My home is small.  I do have an eat-in kitchen but not large enough to accommodate a Thanksgiving crowd for dinner and of course no formal dining room.  The solution is to turn my living room into a dining room for the holiday.

I started in yesterday morning.  I needed to see how this table was going to play out and I knew I wouldn’t be able to move forward with my holiday plans until I had this problem solved.  I started by taking my small 54″ kitchen table and moved it out of the way.  I then moved the small living room camel back sofa into the kitchen. It’s diminutive 72″ size is not only easy to move but works well in my small kitchen.  I then had to move the end tables, no big deal but, the leather upholstered chairs unfortunately had to be moved out of the space.  With no more room in the kitchen, they were relegated to the husbands office for the next several days.

The flip complete it was time to have some fun.  I extended this crazy table.  It’s a Ralph Lauren and they called it The Front Porch Table.  It has the cruddiest layered paint job and it looks like it’s been out in the weather for the last 50 years.  I Love it!  Why did I buy such a table you may ask, well I like cruddy but the main reason was it fit the bill.  

My old beloved table I had was built for me by my dad but it was just too large for the kitchen.  

Got to love the bathroom scale in the picture Uggg!  These are from about 2012.  My photography skills have improved a bit!  No worries we still have this table, it’s in pieces but can be put back together.

It was time to right size this space.  So the Front Porch Table measures only 54×29″ and is a perfect size for our eat in kitchen.  Frankly we never eat in the kitchen.  The beauty of this table is that it has 2-27″ pull out leaves so it expands to 108″.  This enables me to squeeze 10 around it.  For this year we will be only 8.

Mulling over which dishes to use for Thanksgiving I had an epiphany in the middle of the night.  When I woke that morning I knew which dishes it would be.  The Woodland Berry from William Sonoma.  I love these dishes and I don’t have a set yet, but I do have enough to play with.  A couple of years ago I started with the salad plates.  They worked great with my Pottery Barn red plaid dishes and also with the Mackenzie Childs Courtly Check Chargers.

 I had enough to fill either the corner cupboard down stairs or the Welsh Cupboard upstairs.  I ended up running over to William Sonoma yesterday and picking up 4 dinner plates.  I had forgotten that I had broken one of the plaid plates.  

So I mixed up the dinner plates with both the plaid and the Woodland Berry.  Those set up it was time to work on the center piece.

This table is such a challenge for me because I like big elaborate centerpieces with lots of stuff and a great view no matter where you sit.  Unfortunately this table doesn’t allow me to do that because it is so narrow.  I started with 3 faux picks of mixed cedar greens I picked up yesterday that look so real.  I placed them in a bit of a serpentine fashion on the table allowing for a natural ebb and flow.  

They are very pliable and drapery.  Can’t wait to use them in my Christmas decor.  Then I added a small piece of wool plaid from Ralph Lauren that I have had for years.  I kind of pleated it here and there  giving it a bit more volume.  It just barely peaks out amongst the greens.  

A nod to the plaid plates and chargers.  I have found with this table that placing the big items where the plates are not is the key.  Rather than in the center since I always set plates in the center.  I added my new large footed bowl that I picked up at an antique shop in Franklin TN.  Love this thing.  I just filled it with shredder paper to take up a lot of the volume, added sphagnum moss and some faux pomegranates with some blueberries a nod back to the woodland plates.  

I added a few pieces of my ironstone collection to create interest at each place setting and some wonderful faux pinecones I found last year and the center piece was done. 

 So I thought!  I trip down stairs reminded me to carry on with our cross country adventures so I brought up a piece of coral and a couple of sea shells to fill in the garland.  Favorite Pewter Candlesticks and now we’re done.  I think.  I will probably continue to tweak until Thursday.

I few days ago I decided to embroider some old Pottery Barn napkins that I have had for probably 30 years!  They were still in great shape but boring.  I found a pomegranate, holly and greens design & they turned out perfect for the dishes.  

Again just reinforcing the design elements in the dishes.  Added my freshly polished sterling silver which also has a pomegranate.  Of course I’m the only one that notices this stuff!

Anyway the table is done with no fresh flowers.  I think it turned out lovely.  What do you think?

Have a safe and lovely Thanksgiving full of lots of hugs.

Thanks for stopping

Shelley